Calling all 'Mahogany' Experts

[John15]

The boards in the photos are all from different 'mahogany' gate leg tables that I've bought fairly cheaply. The left hand one is part of a current project. It planes beautifully with no tearout. The centre board is a left-over piece from a previous job. It has a lot of reverse grain and was a pig to work. The right hand piece is from an unused board and appears to be different from the other two despite the knot.
Any help to identify the species would be greatly appreciated. Is the centre board Sapele?
Thanks in advance.

John

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I would agree that the centre one is sapele the one on the right with the reaction wood figuring may be utile this also would be difficult to plane.When I worked these woods a few years ago we used to thickness sand the last two millimetres it saved a lot of time having to deal with the charactristic tear out of the sapele.The first board may be a piece of Brazilian or if you are lucky a piece of Honduras or Cuban all three plane very well as long as they are not too highly figured when you may have to resort to using scrapers in difficult areas.I am sure Custard will come along shortly with a more experienced opinion than mine and of course I may be totally wrong and stand to be corrected

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Interesting. I've just been using some recycled window frames made of "mahogany" - probably meranti or sapele or such like. Some work really nicely, others have grain that twists and turns and tears out at the slightest chance. I presume they are not all the same species. Will keep an eye on this thread.

 

[John15]

Thanks Kevin and Tony for your comments. It's clear that when using recycled timber described as ''mahogany'' the actual species can be any of several species.

John